Estonia's Port of Tallinn is in talks with several investors over building a refinery capable of processing 3-6 million tons of crude oil per year. The new refinery would be built at the Paldiski South Port.

The state-owned port company’s chief commercial officer Erik Ringmaa told the Baltic News Service that although the margins to be earned were at present small, owing to low oil prices and an unfavourable market, in the longer term quite a few investors took an interest in building the refinery.

In the future, the refinery could help offset the declining freight volumes of Port of Tallinn and revitalize the Estonian economy, Ringmaa said.

Should the project succeed, Port of Tallinn's role would be to ensure the servicing of oil tankers. The company plans to build a new quay and dredge for the basin at Paldiski if the refinery should become reality.

For the time being, there are no concrete plans and no environmental impact assessment report. “Further development of the project depends on strategic developers,” Ringmaa said.

Port of Tallinn has been planning the Paldiski refinery since 2011. The Ukrainian company DMSS initially showed interest in the project, but the negotiations were suspended, and by now DMSS was out of the game, Ringmaa said.